On June 13, Poland, like the other seven post-Communist states who joined the European Union (EU) in May, will participate for the first time in European Parliament elections. In preparation for the elections, on June 5, the well-known Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper published a list of... MORE

Meeting on June 5 in Sochi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Alyaksandr Lukashenka of Belarus agreed that the pace of formalizing the two states unification is "not to be rushed artificially," and that Moscow and Minsk should in the meantime focus on bilateral economic... MORE

On June 1, Ukrainian Parliament Deputy Speaker Oleksandr Zinchenko complained of collusion between "law enforcement structures and the criminal world" in the April 18 Mukachevo mayoral elections (www.rada.kiev.ua, June 1). Zinchenko specifically targeted "skinheads," who had been reportedly organized as paramilitary groups by the presidential... MORE

On June 1, Moldova's Communist President Vladimir Voronin handed over to foreign ambassadors in Chisinau the draft of a "Stability and Security Pact for the Republic of Moldova." The pact would, in effect, place the country under vaguely defined external guarantees. The proposed arrangement would... MORE

The Washington Times (May 25) published a sensational news item entitled “Dirty Bomb Easy to Buy in Ukraine”. The report was itself based on a Sky News report that investigated how relatively easy it would be for terrorists to purchase, transport and detonate a “dirty... MORE

Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych was nominated on April 14 as the candidate of the pro-presidential camp for the October 31 presidential election in Ukraine. The nomination came six days after a parliamentary vote on constitutional changes failed. Opinion polls show Yanukovych to have overtaken Communist... MORE

Whether by strategic design with Russia, by bureaucratic drift or a combination thereof, Western diplomats are rushing a pseudo-settlement of the Trans-Dniester problem that would, if implemented in the next few months, turn Moldova into a Russian satellite and ensure a Communist landslide in upcoming... MORE

On May 25, Lithuania's Constitutional Court ruled that an ex-president who has been removed from that office through impeachment may not run again for the presidency. By closing this legal loophole, the ruling ends the presidential career of Rolandas Paksas, 48, who was a candidate... MORE

Valeriy Mishura, Communist parliamentary deputy and head of the Temporary Investigative Parliamentary Commission, has issued his first report to Parliament on the implications of foreign financing of NGOs (Ukrayinska Pravda, May 21). The Commission has always understood its remit to investigate only Western funding of... MORE

Former U.S. President George Bush was the latest in a long line of senior U.S. policy-makers to visit Ukraine on May 20-21. The visit should be understood as part of the on-going election campaign in Ukraine. This visit was Bush's first since July 1991 when... MORE